D'vinda sailed past my guards at the door, violence laced in every step. “What is the meaning of this?” she demanded as ifshewere the boss of Cendaqua, and not her father.
“Good, you’re here,” I said, giving the order for my soldiers to seize her with a jerk of my chin. “We can do this quick, or we can do it dirty. Your choice. You tell me where the fuck she is, and maybe I’ll let you die before I let my cekets tear you apart.”
D'vinda snorted derisively. “Try it,” she dared me. “See if you survive the night.”
I lunged, stopping a breath from her face, my teeth bared. “WHERE IS SHE?!”
Her usually unflappable demeanor showed just a crack, a small intake of breath. “Who?”
“My. Fucking. WIFE.”
Her shoulders bounced with one ugly little laugh. “You lost her already? Shit. That’s too bad.”
“D'vinda,” her father warned. “Now is not the time for jokes.”
“Who’s joking?” She gestured around my makeshift war room, a mix of formal evening wear and street clothes, as my soldiers scoured security recs and called every contact we had, chasing down any possible lead. The smell of anxiety, fear, and anger was thick in the air. “He has the best security in the star system, and he can’t keep track of one little female far from home? Are you sure she wants to be found, Ahlon?”
“Start with her fingers,” I said to Nerus. “No need to make Evik’s mating any harder to stomach by damaging her face yet.”
Bruukto and his meager crew of guards all stepped forward, trying to put themselves between me and D'vinda. They should have acted as soon as she came in. By now? It was far too late. Before anyone could even shout out a protest, one of Zacal’s guards pressed a phase blade under D'vinda’s chin. Everyone stopped, silence pulsing through the room like a ghostly heartbeat.
“The sooner you tell me where she is, the better off you’ll be,” I said. “I have every reason to hate you. You killed my brother, and I let you live. But this is myAneah.”
“I don’t have her,” D'vinda said, teeth clenched. “Contrary to what you might think, I have no reason to hate you or your mate.”
“You have every reason!” I thundered. Nerus closed in on her, unsheathing his phase blade and reaching for her hand.
“I don’t have her!”D'vinda shrieked, as her father thundered, “Don’t you touch her!”
“Go ahead and take two fingers,” I said. “I hate liars.”
“Wait!” D'vinda cried. “Wait. Let’s talk. Get him out of here,” she nodded to Bruukto, “and I’ll talk.”
My eyes narrowed as I thought it through. Why would she want him gone? “I think it’s best if he sees what we do next,” I said. “If you don’t talk, maybe he will to save his precious daughter.”
“When you have a child of your own,” Bruukto gritted out, “I swear you’ll have no peace, Yiri Ahlon! Don’t you touch a hair on her head!”
“No onewill have peace until my wife, myAneah, is by my side again!”
“Get him out of here, and I’ll talk,” D'vinda repeated. “Do you want her back or not?”
FUCK!
All it took was a jerk of my head for the soldiers guarding Bruukto to start prodding him toward the door.
“Everyone else, too,” D'vinda insisted, her eyes darting around the room. I snarled viciously, but she squared her shoulders and faced me head-on. “I’ll only talk to you.”
“No.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder to where Bruukto was fighting his expulsion from the room and losing the battle. “I did what you asked.”
“Now do this, too,” she said, lifting her chin. “More lives than mine depend on it. You can cut all my fingers and toes off, but I won’t talk unless you clear the room.”
She was evil enough that I believed her. Cursing, I turned to Zacal. He opened his mouth to protest, but stopped when I said, “MyAneah.” With a nod, he went, and the room slowly emptied behind him until it was only me, Nerus, and D'vinda.
“You, too,” she sniped at him, but he shook his head.
“He stays, I stay.”
D'vinda turned her eyes to me in silent appeal, but I gave her a hard look. “You’re about to be down a few digits.”
